One of the most exciting treats revealed in today's Iron Man 3 trailer is that Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark directly references the events of Marvel's The Avengers and his hardships during the battle of New York. That's a strong suggestion that, moving forward, Marvel Studios plans to fully embrace the continuity of its cinematic universe. It also makes all the more curious the tattoo that Ben Kingsley's Mandarin has on the back of his neck.

As you can see in the still frame below, the design appears to depict Captain America's iconic shield. It's a little harder to tell if the "A" in the middle is supposed to be an Avengers "A" or a variation on the "Anarchy" symbol. Either way, it appears that the character has a specific interest in either Steve Rogers specifically or in the team as a whole. Although it's purely speculation at this point, the Mandarin could even wind up having ties to the still-unkown plot of Captain America: The Winter Solider. If you've got any theories, share them below!

Oh, I don't know. A couple years ago I would have said a full scale alien invasion and Thanos would have been asking too much. While I don't expect the full 10-pack of powers, it would be cool to at least have them release energy blasts.

Either way, this movie's looking pretty good.

_________________Leave it up to a billionaire to buy the world some time --- Tony Stark

I calling this: Pepper's gonna buy it in this one, which will lead Tony to become full blown alcoholic, which will lead into his redemption/revenge in Avengers 2, because the villians in this Iron Man 3 will be that same.

We got our first taste of footage for Iron Man 3 this week with the release of the trailer. Now we've got a look at an alternate poster for the film by artist Matt Ferguson (via blurppy). Ferguson's name and work should be familiar as he is the one who provided the sleeve artwork for the postponed Marvel Phase 1 box set.

No word yet on whether this poster will make its way to the actual marketing for the film or if Marvel will eventually sell it, but stay tuned here for more details as they emerge.